Concentrations of zinc and copper in pregnant problem drinkers and their newborn infants.

A case-control study of relationships of diet and other traits to colorectal cancer in American blacks. The diet of individuals: a study of a randomly-chosen cross section of British adults in a Cambridgeshire village. SHORT REPORTS Concentrations of zinc and copper in pregnant problem drinkers and their newborn infants The mechanism whereby abuse of alcohol during pregnancy causes the fetal alcohol syndrome,' is unknown. Zinc and copper, which are essential for various enzymes regulating growth and development, may be a factor, and, indeed, deficiencies in zinc or copper, or both, have been linked to some fetal abnormalities."' We studied the concentrations of zinc and copper in pregnant women who were problem drinkers and related them to umbilical cord concentrations measured immediately after delivery. Thirty one women who were problem drinkers (aged 21-39) and 10 healthy abstinent women (aged 21-41) were followed throughout pregnancy. All the drinkers received counselling on alcohol; 17 continued to drink heavily (more than 10 drinks, or 140 g purc ethanol, weekly) and 14 moderately (three to nine drinks, or 42-126 g pure ethanol, weckly). None of the drinkers used drugs or other stimulants, but 28 smoked. Ten heavy drinkers gave birth to infants with the fetal alcohol syndrome (characterised by growth retardation, facial appearance , neurological aberrations, or delaved development), but the other infants were healthv. V'enous blood samples were taken from the mothers at each follow up visit (five to seven timcs in 18 drinkers, one to fotur times in 13) and from mixed cord blood immediately after dclivery, and serum was assayed for zinc and copper by atomic absorption spectrophotometrv. Differences between the two groups were asscsscd bv Student's t tcst. Maternal zinc and copper concentrations wcre not closely related to the gestational age at sampling, although zinc tended to decrease and copper to increase with advancing pregnancy (figure). There were no differences in maternal zinc or copper concentrations between drinking and non-drinking mothers. Concentrations were generally normal in the women whose infants had the fetal alcohol syndrome, although they fluctuated widely.